The Reign of
Constantine
April 5th, 2012
Sources
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Eusebius of Caesarea (ca. 260-341); The
Life of Constantine; The Ecclesiastical
History.
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Lactantius (ca. 240-320); De Mortibus
Persecutorum.
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Apologetics.
A Christian View of History
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“Mankind, devising some consolation for the frail and precarious duration of human life, have thought by the
erection of monuments to glorify the memories of their ancestors with immortal honors. Some have employed the
vivid delineations and colors of painting (2); some have carved statues from lifeless blocks of wood; while others,
by engraving their inscriptions deep on tablets (3) and monuments, have thought to transmit the virtues of those
whom they honored to perpetual remembrance. All these indeed are perishable, and consumed by the lapse of
time, being representations of the corruptible body, and not expressing the image of the immortal soul. And yet
these seemed sufficient to those who had no well-grounded hope of happiness after the termination of this mortal
life. But God, that God, I say, who is the common Saviour of all, having treasured up with himself, for those who
love godliness, greater blessings than human thought has conceived, gives the earnest and first-fruits of future
rewards even here, assuring in some sort immortal hopes to mortal eyes. The ancient oracles of the prophets,
delivered to us in the Scripture, declare this; the lives of pious men, who shone in old time with every virtue, bear
witness to posterity of the same; and our own days prove it to be true, wherein Constantine, who alone of all that
ever wielded the Roman power was the friend of God the Sovereign of all, has appeared to all mankind so clear
an example of a godly life. And God himself, whom Constantine worshiped, has confirmed this truth by the
clearest manifestations of his will, being present to aid him (1) at the commencement, during the course, and at
the end of his reign, and holding him up to the human race as an instructive example of godliness. Accordingly,
by the manifold blessings he has conferred on him, he has distinguished him alone of all the sovereigns of whom
we have ever heard as at once a mighty luminary and most clear-voiced herald of genuine piety. (Eusebius, Life
of Constantine, 1.2-3. Trans. E. Cushing)
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/vita-constantine.asp
The Abdication of Diocletian
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305 – Diocletian and Maximian abdicate.
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Constantius Chlorus Augustus in the West; adopts
Flavius Valerius Severus as Caesar and heir.
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Galerius Augustus in the East; adopts Maximinus Daia
as Caesar and heir.
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Maximian not happy with forced abdication.
The Fall of the Tetrarchy and the
Rise of Constantine
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306 - Constantius Chlorus dies at York; British legions acclaim his son, Constantine, Augustus;
Constantine demurs; Severus (Western Augustus) adopts Constantine as Caesar and heir.
306 – Maxentius (son of Maximian) declared himself Augustus; backed by Praetorian Guard and
much of the Italian pop.
307 - Troops revolt against Severus who flees to Ravenna and is killed by Maxentius.
308 – Galerius, Constantine, Maximinus declare Maxentius an outlaw; Severus replaced as
Augustus by Licinianus; civil war vs. Maxentius.
311 – Galerius dies of cancer; Maximinus Daia overruns the Eastern Empire and prepares for
war with Licinius; Constantine and Licinius allies.
312 – Constantine invades Italy; Maxentius defeated by Constantine at b. Of Milvian Bridge;
important victory for Christians (Edict of Milan 313).
313 – Licinius defeats Maximinus at b. Of Adrianople.
313-316 – Fighting between Licinius and Constantine ends in stalemate.
316-324 – Empire divided into two halves; Licinius Augustus in the East and Constantine in the
West.
324 – Constantine attacks and defeats Licinius.
324-337 – Constantine sole emperor.
Important Policies of Constantine
the Great
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312 – Praetorian Guard disbanded; replaced by a royal bodyguard made up of Germans; Large scale enlistment
and promotion to senior commands of Germans; Praetorian Prefects replaced by a Magister Equitum and a
Magister Peditum; Complete separation of civil and military functions; military service made a hereditary
occupation.
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Massive expansion of the imperial court; magistracies still exist (shorn of real power); distinction between
senators and equestrians abolished; expansion of compulsory public service.
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Revamped currency (76 solidi to 1 pound of gold); Coloni (tenant farmers) bound to the soil – also hereditary.
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313 – Edict of Milan proclaimed official toleration of Christianity.
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325 – Summoned the Council of Nicaea.
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330 – Capital of the empire transferred from Rome to Byzantium (renamed Constantinople); Constantinople
transformed with money (ca. 60,000 pounds of gold) taken from pagan temples.
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337 – Constantine takes ill; receives Christian baptism and dies.
Soldiering as a Hereditary Status:
(313 or 319)
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“Of the veterans’ sons who are fit for military service,
some indolently object to the performance of their
compulsory military duties and others are so cowardly
that they desire to evade the necessity of military
service by mutilation of their bodies. If they should be
judged useless for military service because of
amputated fingers, we order them to be assigned to the
compulsory services and duties of decurions with no
ambiguity.” (Theodosian Code 7.22. Lewis & Reinhold,
1990, p. 436
Creation of a Serf Class
(332)
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“Any person whatsoever in whose possession a colonus
belonging to another is found not only shall he restore
the said colonus to his place of origin but shall also
assume the capitation tax on him for the time [that he
had him]. And as for coloni themselves, it will be proper
for such as contemplate flight to be bound with chains to
a servile status, so that by virtue of such condemnation
to servitude they may be compelled to fulfill the duties
that befit free men.” (Theodosian Code 5.17. Lewis &
Reinhold, 1990, p. 437)
Inherited Obligations of Public
Office for Decurions
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“Since we have learned that the municipal councils are being left
deserted by persons who, though subject to them through origin,
are requesting military service for themselves through supplications
[to the emperor] and are running away to the legions and the
various government offices, we order all municipal councils to be
advised that if they catch any persons in government service less
than twenty years who have either fled from [their duties of] origin
or, rejecting nomination [to municipal office], have enrolled
themselves in the military service, they shall drag such persons
back to the municipal councils…” (Theodosian Code 12.1.13. Lewis
& Reinhold, 1990, 435)
Constantine and Christianity
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Christians an increasing demographic.
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The importance of the b. of Milvian Bridge (312 CE) to the history of
Christianity.
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313 CE – The Edict of Toleration.
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Longstanding doctrinal problems: 1. Which gospels are authoritative and
which are not? 2. Arius of Alexandria (256-336); the human nature of
Jesus. 3. Monophysites; divine nature of Jesus. 4. Manicheans; Mani (216276); Dualism. 5. Gnostics; Gnosis (Knowledge); Syncretism. 6. Donatists.
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325 – The Council of Nicaea.
Constantine and His Conversion at
Milvian Bridge (312)
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“ACCORDINGLY he called on him with earnest prayer and supplications that he
would reveal to him who he was, and stretch forth his right hand to help him in his
present difficulties. And while he was thus praying with fervent entreaty, a most
marvelous sign appeared to him from heaven, the account of which it might have
been hard to believe had it been related by any other person. But since the
victorious emperor himself long afterwards declared it to the writer of this history, (1)
when he was honored with his acquaintance and society, and confirmed his
statement by an oath, who could hesitate to accredit the relation, especially since the
testimony of after- time has established its truth? He said that about noon, when the
day was already beginning to decline, he saw with his own eyes the trophy of a
cross of light in the heavens, above the sun, and bearing the inscription, CONQUER
BY THIS. At this sight he himself was struck with amazement, and his whole army
also, which followed him on this expedition, and witnessed the miracle.” (Eusebius,
Life of Constantine, 1.28. Trans. E. Cushing).
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/vita-constantine.asp
Summoning the Council of Nicaea
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“THEN as if to bring a divine array against this enemy, he convoked a general council, and
invited the speedy attendance of bishops from all quarters, in letters expressive of the honorable
estimation in which he held them. Nor was this merely the issuing of a bare command but the
emperor's good will contributed much to its being carried into effect: for he allowed some the use
of the public means of conveyance, while he afforded to others an ample supply of horses (1) for
their transport. The place, too, selected for the synod, the city Nicaea in Bithynia (named from
"Victory"), was appropriate to the occasion. (2) As soon then as the imperial injunction was
generally made known, all with the utmost willingness hastened thither, as though they would
outstrip one another in a race; for they were impelled by the anticipation of a happy result to the
conference, by the hope of enjoying present peace, and the desire of beholding something new
and strange in the person of so admirable an emperor. Now when they were all assembled, it
appeared evident that the proceeding was the work of God, inasmuch as men who had been
most widely separated, not merely in sentiment but also personally, and by difference of country,
place, and nation, were here brought together, and comprised within the walls of a single city,
forming as it were a vast garland of priests, composed of a variety of the choicest flowers.”
(Eusebius, Life of Constantine, 1.6. Trans. E. Cushing).
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/vita-constantine.asp
A New Imperial Capital
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“AFTER this the soldiers lifted the body from its couch, and laid it in a
golden coffin, which they enveloped in a covering of purple, and removed
to the city which was called by his own name. Here it was placed in an
elevated position in the principal chamber of the imperial palace, and
surrounded by candles burning in candlesticks of gold, presenting a
marvelous spectacle, and such as no one under the light of the sun had
ever seen on earth since the world itself began. For in the central
apartment of the imperial palace, the body of the emperor lay in its
elevated resting- place, arrayed in the symbols of sovereignty, the diadem
and purple robe, and encircled by a numerous retinue of attendants, who
watched around it incessantly night and day.” (Eusebius, Life of
Constantine, 1. 66. Trans. E. Cushing).
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/vita-constantine.asp
Changed Circumstances
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Emperors after Constantine governed under very different
conditions from their predecessors.
Public office no longer a source of political competition but a
hereditary burden many try to avoid.
Peasant class (coloni) free but tied to the land; paid a head tax.
All occupations and social classes hereditary.
Professional army made mainly by non-Romans; disproportionately
large numbers of Germans.
Rome now only a symbolic centre; Constantinople the New Rome.
Emperors are absolute monarchs.
Christianity triumphant.
Discussion Questions
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How do you think the adoption of Christianity influenced the way
future emperors would govern?
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How does Eusebius’ approach to biography differ from his nonChristian predecessors?
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Aside from the proliferation of Christianity, what other factors
changed the nature of the principate from Constantine onward and
why?
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Is it possible to get a clear image of the character of Constantine
from Eusebius?